After ranking number one for SBA 504 Lending in Eastern Pennsylvania, Seedcopa continues to expand its team.
Lauren Sandusky has been named Loan Operations Specialist at Seedcopa, a Certified Development Company that specializes in helping businesses in Pennsylvania and Delaware access low-interest, below-market financing through government loans.
Lauren joins the Seedcopa team after serving as Manager of Loan Processing at the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC), where she worked on a variety of small business loans including the PIDA loan program. She also managed COVID-19 relief loan programs including the Philadelphia COVID-19 Small Business Relief Fund, the COVID-19 Working Capital Access (CWCA) program and most recently the COVID-19 Hospitality Industry Recovery Program (CHIRP).
“Business loans aren’t just ‘business’ for the small- to mid-sized entities we work with. They’re very personal endeavors, and Lauren’s combination of loan processing expertise as well as her enthusiasm for working with business owners throughout the loan process are of great benefit to our borrowers and lending partners,” said Seedcopa Managing Director Sherwood Robbins.
Lauren began her financing career at Firstlease, Inc. in Horsham, a national provider of equipment financing, where she supervised loan operations from documentation to closing over the course of a decade. Lauren is a graduate of LaSalle University, where she earned a Masters of Business Administration as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Communication. A life-long resident of Pennsylvania, Lauren grew up in the Somerton section of Philadelphia and now resides in Malvern with her family.
Lauren joins Seedcopa after it was ranked number one in 2020 by the U.S. Small Business Administration for attaining the most SBA 504 loans for small businesses in Eastern Pennsylvania. Loans spanned nine counties: Berks, Chester, Cumberland, Delaware, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Lehigh, Montgomery and Philadelphia.
SBA 504 is the Small Business Administration’s fixed-rate loan program for small- to mid-sized business owners, and such loans often act as a complement to conventional, commercial loans that Seedcopa facilitates through local banks and credit unions. A typical SBA 504 loan structure requires a contribution from the business owner as little as 10%. A third-party lender, like a bank or credit union, contributes 50% of the project cost. The SBA-backed portion of the loan is up to 40%. SBA 504 loan projects help businesses purchase, construct, renovate or expand on new or existing land, as well as purchase machinery and equipment.
